Chain-drive mechanism for bobbin shafts of roving frames



March 4 1924. 1,486,107

1 G. ALBRECHT CHAIN DRIVE MECHANISM FOR BOBBIN SHAFTS 0F ROVING FRAMES Patented Mar 1924:,

GEORGE E. ALBRECHT, OF WOGNSOGKET. RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO WQONSOCKET MACHINE & PRESS 00., INCL, OF WOOITSGCKE T, RHODE ISLAND, A CORPORATION OF RHODE ISLAND.

CHAIN-DRIVE nr'ncnnnrsm non eo'nnm .snar'rs or ROVING ramps.

Application filed. September 242, 1928. Serial No. 664,510.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE F. ALBRECHT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Woonsocket, in the county of Providence, State of Rhode Island, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Chain- Drive Mechanism for Bobbin Shafts of Roving Frames, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings. I

The invention provides simplified and improved chain-drive mechanism for transmitting rotary motion from the compound of a roving frame to the bobbin-shaftsof the latter.

Two of the types of mechanism which have been employed in practice heretofore for the purpose just mentioned are the socalled spur-gear drive and the so-called chain-drive. The invention is, as its title indicates, an improvement in drive mechanism of the latter type.

The spur-gear drive comprises a train of spur-gears, including one or more intermediates mounted upon a support which swings up and down in unison with the ascending and descending movements of the traverserail and bobbin-shafts, the organization being termed a horse-head.

The chain-drive as known in practice is shown and described in U. S, Letters Patent granted to Richard B. Daly, for slubber or fly frame, No. 895,541, granted August 11, 1908. It is termed the Daly drive and comprises a sprocket-wheel connected with the compound sleeve, a sprocket-chain extending from such sprocket-wheel to one on an intermediately' located'jackshaft, a second sprocket-chain connecting anotherfsprocketwheel on the jackshaft with one on one of the bobbin-shafts, and means, including a cam, for controlling the position of the jackshaft to maintain the two chains at a uniform tension during the upand-down traverse movements of the traverse-rail and bobbin-shafts.

A spur-gear drive has drawbacks, including noisiness in operation, and'also the fact that its operation is attended by alternating gain and loss in the speed of the bobbins relative to that of the spindles and fliers as the parts traverse u and down. Such gain and loss have the e ect of causing variations in the stretch ofthe rovings as they wind upon the bobbins, causing weak places which tend to breakages. The chain-drive has advantagesover the spur-gear drive in respectof being free from the noise, etc., of the latter, and also in the respect that its operation is not attended with the said alternating gain and loss. Substantially in the form,

etc., shown and described in the Daly pat ent, it has been incorporated in a large number of roving frames in practice. In such form, it is what may be termed a two-step chain-drive, involving the use of two sprocket-chains connecting respectively: the driving sprocket-wheel of the compound with the jackshaft, and the jackshaft with one of the bobbin-shafts; as well as of the compensating cam, etc., aforesaid; and is composedof a considerable number of parts.

The leadin object of the invention is toproduce a bo bin-shaft chain-drive mechanism having all the recognized advantages of the Daly drive, and at the same time characterized by a greatly reduced number of parts, simpler principles of construction and a simpler mode of operation, and less expensive to build, etc.

The present invention comprises one specific embodiment of the generic invention which is described and also claimed broadly in myrparent application for U. S. Letters Patent filed Sept 14, 1923, Serial No. 662,669. The said generic invention as illustrated and described in my, said parent application in several forms, including the form shown, described and claimed herein, consists in chain-drive mechanism com rising, essentially, in combination with a riv ing sprocket-wheel which is operatively combined with a roving frame compound and actuated thereby, and the two bobbinshafts of a roving frame, a one-step and direct sprocket-chain connection between the said driving sprocket-wheel and a sprocketwheel fixed on one or each of the bobbinshafts.

In the particular embodiment of the said generic invention which is claimed herein, each bobbin-shaft has a sprocket-wheel fixed thereon, and one run of the sprocketchain extends from the driving sprocketwheel of the compound over one of the bobbin-shaft sprocket-wheels, in engagement with an upper portion thereof, and under and partly around the other bobbin-shaft sprockebwheel, in engagement therewith.

The one-step direct chain-connection between the non-traversing compound and the bobbin-shafts mounted in connection with the traverse-rail and traversing vertically up and down therewith, as well as the greatly simplified general organization, distinguish in important respects a mechanism in accordance with the present invention from the two-step broken or interrupted arrangement of the Daly patent. The special construction claimed herein of the simplified organization, also differentiates a bobbin-shaft chain-drive mechanism in accordance with the present invention from other forms of chain-drive mechanism that have been proposed heretofore.

The simplification effected through the invention results in a large reduction in the number of parts that are required, by reason of the elimination of one of the two drive chain connections of the Daly patent, as well as of the intermediately located jackshaft, and its two sprocket-wheels, and of the special devices of the Daly patent :whereby the jacksha-ft is maintained in the proper relative position with respect to the first-motion shaft of the machine and to the particular bobbin-shaft which is in chain connection with the jackshaft, and whereby the distance of the jackshaft from the said bobbin-shaft is kept uniform by automatic compensation during the up-and-down traverse, to keep the tension of the second chain uniform.

In some instances, as in my patent application aforesaid I employ a yieldingly-actuated tightener-roll engaging with the slack run of the drive-chain adjacent one of the bobbin-shaft sprocket-wheels and acting not only to take up any looseness forming in the slack run, but, in doing so, to wrap the chain more completely around the adjacent sprocket-wheel, thereby ensuring more reliable engagement between the chain and such sprocket-wheel.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a View of certain elements of a roving frame with the invention applied thereto, the shafts being in section in a vertical plane extending from front to rear at one side of the gearing, and the covers of the gearing also being in vertical section.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the parts which are shown in Fig 1, with the tops of the cover-sections removed.

The drawings do not show the usual traverse-rail, but they do show a slide 1 such as that which in practice is connected with the head end of the traverse-rail, its

outer side having a groove 1 receiving a vertically-extending gu1de-r1b 2 upon the head- 3 of the machine-frame, on which 1 ,aeeaor guide-rib the slide moves up and down in the vertical traversing movement of the traverse-rail. The covers 21, 22, constituting the bobbin-shaft-gear box are attached to the said slide by means of suitable bolts 111, 111. The drawings show the end portions of bobbin-shafts 4, 1, as mounted inbearings 5, 5, and 51, 51, in connection with the bottom cover-section of the said gearbox, and with the said slide, respectively. In usual practice there are two bobbinshafts, as required for the driving of the two longitudinal lines of bobbins surrounding the two longitudinal lines of flier-spin dles employed in a roving frame, the said bobbin-shafts being driven through connections ,with the sleeve 6 surrounding I the main shaft 7, the said sleeve being an element of the compound and being driven in well-known manner at progressively varying speed in the operation of the machine.

Referring now to the drive-chain mechanism in which the invention resides,

A driving sprocket-wheel 71 is fixedly connected with the compoundsleeve 6, and each bobbin-shaft 4 has fixed thereon a sprocket-Wheel 8. A sprocket-chain '9 ex tends partway around the driving sprocketwheel 71, in engagement with the latter, and one run of the chain is in direct engagement with both of the sprocket-wheels 8, 8, such run extending over the rear one thereof and in engagement with the top thereof, the chain then extending under and partly around the front wheel 8, in engagement therewith, and its upper run extending rearward to the driving sprocketwheel 71 of the compound sleeve 6. The total length of the chain is suflicient to permit the required extent of up-zind-down traverse of the traverse-rail to occur.

The passage of the drive-chain over the sprocket-wheel of the rear bobbin-shaft and in engagement thereof, and under and partly around the sprocketavheel of the front bobbin-shaft, in engagement therewith, is an important distinctive feature of the invention claimed herein. It not only provides for effective and certain driving engagement between the drive-chain 'and the respective bobbin-shaft sprocket-wheels 8, 8, but it includes such a disposition of the slack run of the said chain intermediate the driving sprocket-wheel 71 of the compound andthe rear driven sprocket-wheel 8 as to take care of the slack in such run and safeguard against such run getting out ofproper engagement with the said rear sprocketwheel 8.

In operation, the weight of that portion of the slack run of the chain which extends from the driving sprocket-wheel 71 to the sprocket-wheel 8 of the rear bobbin-shaft will cause such portion to sa down, as shown in the drawing, intermediate the two sprocket-wheels just named, and such weight will operate to keep the chain properly "engaged with the different sprocket-wheels. The extent of sagging will automatically vary in proportion as the amount of slack in the chain varies at different points in the traverse of the traverse-rail, etc., up and down. I may in practice dispense with the addition of special tightener means in connection with the chain, but preferably 1 employ a tension-roll 90, which rests upon the lower run of the chain, said roll in this instance being mounted in a carrier-frame 91 which hung removably upon the rear bobbin-shaft. The said roll bears downwardly upon the said run just at the rear of the sprocket-wheel 8 of the rear bobbin-shaft, the location of the roll close to the periphery of the said sprocketwheel, and its movement downward adjacent the said periphery increasing the tendency of the chain to wrap around such periphery as the roll descends, whereby the slack of the chain 1 is taken up quickly with a comparatively slight downward movement oi the roll.

The described sprocket-chain and sprocket-wheel organization constitutes a simple and direct drive from the compound sleeve to the respective bobbin-shafts by means of a single chain engaging directly with the compound sleeve gear and with the bobbinshaft gears, and the slackening and tightening of the said chain due to ascent and descent of the traverse-rail is automatically compensated for without the employment of compensating cams or other special mechanisms.

The covers which are shown in the drawings and partly described herein are more fully described, as well as claimed, in my parent patent application mentioned hereinbefore.

What is claimed as the invention is 1. Chain-drive mechanism for bobbinshafts of roving frames comprising, in combination with two bobbin-shafts, each provided with a driven sprocket-wheel fixed hereto, and a driving sprocket-wheel operatively combined with the roving frame compound and actuated thereby, a sprocketchain constituting a direct or one-step sprocket-chain connection between the driving sprocket-wheel and both of the driven bobbin-shaft sprocket-wheels, the said chain passing over one off the said driven sprocketwheels and engaging the upper portion thereof and under and partly around the other thereof in engagement therewith.

2. Chain-drive mechanism for bobbinshafts of. roving frames comprising, in combination with two bobbin-shafts, each provided with a driven sprocket-wheel fixed thereto, and a driving sprocket-wheel operatively combined with the roving frame compound and actuated thereby, a sprocketchain constituting a direct or one-step sproc et-chain connection between the driving sprocket-wheel and both of the driven bobbin-shaft sprocket-wheels, the said chain passing over one of the said driven sprocket-wheels and engaging the upper portion thereof and under and partly around the other thereof in engagement therewith, and a yieldingly-actuated tightener-roll engaging with the slack run of the chain close to one of said driven sprocket-wheels.

3. Chain-drive mechanism for bobbinshafts of roving frames comprising, in combination with two bobbin-shafts, each provided with a driven sprocket-Wheel fixedthereto, and a driving sprocket-wheel operatively combined with the roving frame compound and actuated thereby, a sprocket-chain constituting a direct or one-step sprocket-chain connection betweenthe driving sprocket-wheel and both of the driven bobbin-shaft sprocketwheels, the said chain passing over one of the said driven sprocket-wheels and engag-v ing the upper portion thereof and under and partly around the other thereof in engagement therewith, and a yieldingly-actuated tightener-roll resting upon the slack run of the chain close to the first-mentioned of the driven sprocket-wheels.

GEORGE F. ALBRECHT, 

